Helen Schlegel is delighted to accept a marriage proposal from Paul Wilcox, whose wealthy family owns beloved country home Howards End. A friendship develops between Mrs Wilcox and Helen's sister Margaret, which culminates in Mrs Wilcox bequeathing Howards End to Margaret on her death bed. Businessman Henry Wilcox and the rest of the clan are fiercely opposed, believing that the matriarch was not of sound mind. So they burn all written evidence of the inheritance.